Today was another day where I kind of had half of a plan.

I knew I was doing a day trip to Rotterdam about an hour south from where I’m staying in Haarlem but outside of that, I really had no plan for the other parts of the day.

Was I taking the 10:30 or 1:30 walking tour?   Where was I going to eat breakfast and lunch?   In Haarlem or in Rotterdam?   And what was I going to do after the walking tour?

The first question took care of itself as I woke up around 9am.   Since it wasn’t enough time to get to Rotterdam in time for the first walking tour, it was settled – I was taking the 1:30 tour that ended at 3:30.

Now I needed to figure out breakfast.

Great food to start the day

I headed out the door at 9:30 which meant I had a couple of options.   I could either have breakfast here in town or take the 1hr train ride to Rotterdam and have breakfast there before my tour.

I decided to just head out the door and walk around parts of the city I hadn’t seen yet and if I didn’t find anything, I’d just grab the next train out.

And then I happened upon a little café that had the “gluten free is available” on their menu board.   Well, that was enough for me so I grabbed a little table on their patio.

For breakfast I had their Salmon and Spinach Eggs Benedict.   Oh my god!   So good!   I wish I had found this place a few days ago as I honestly probably would have had breakfast there every morning.

After breakfast I had ample time before the train I needed to catch was to depart so I leisurely walked into the main square of town.

Today being Saturday, however, the town square was filled with a popup street market.

My eyes lit up.   I just had had a magical experience yesterday with a street market so I was pretty happy to randomly stumble upon this one.

Of course I had just had a full meal so I wouldn’t be sampling everything but there were a couple places offering sample cheeses and, I mean, who am I to resist some free cheese, right?

And then I saw it.

A stand at the end of the market selling one of the Netherlands must have snacks for your sweet tooth – Stroopwafel.

I have seen alot of stands selling this delicacy in the last few days but what made this one special was that they had a gluten free option available.

Um, yes please!

I bought a package and happily went to the train station.

Markthal

The train ride to Rotterdam cost 15€ each way and took just over an hour to get there.

The meeting point for the walking tour was in front of Markthal which I had marked on my map.   I just figured it was some statue we were meeting in front of like most walking tours.   Instead, we were meeting in front of a big building filled with all food stalls.

When I actually took the time to translate Markthal from Dutch to English and found out it translates to Market Hall, it all kind of made sense.

I had a few minutes before the tour started, so I popped in real quick to see what was in there.

They had everything.   Ever ethnicity was accounted for and then some.   At the very back of the building though was what I was looking for.

Right there at the back was a stand selling, among other things, herring.

Herring is one of those things you’re “supposed” to have when visiting the Netherlands as a tourist so I definitely needed to cross this food item off my list.

Since I had just had breakfast I meant a mental note about it knowing I’d be back there in a couple of hours to tackle it.

Free walking tour

The tour today was again kind of middle of the road.   Don’t get me wrong, the tour was well worth it.   It was just in the middle of the road in the range of the 100+ walking tours I’ve now go on.

To make up for it though was getting to know the people I did the tour with.   Each stop was a few minutes walk away so I took the time to chat with my fellow travelers.

Stupidly I didn’t get names but I got to know a bit about a few of them.

There was the couple from Moldova who now have lived in Belgium for a few months.   She got a job there and he followed.   I talked with him for awhile about what it’s like in Moldova as it’s actually one of the places I’d like to eventually visit.   The culture shock going from a tiny and old country like Moldova to the hustle and bustle of Belgium had to be crazy.

There was also a girl backpacking from Melbourne three weeks into her 6 month adventure.   It was her first backpacking trip and she was so wide eyed and happy about the overall experience.   It made me think back to how I felt on my first trip.   I remember also being that wide eyed doe trying everything new for the first time.   We talked alot about my past trips and what we wanted to do in the future.

There was also a girl from the states who is currently working as an au pair in Paris.   This trip to Rotterdam was a quick weekend getaway for her.   I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – it must be amazing to live in Europe and being able to quickly and cheaply hop over to another country for a few days.   I know I’d probably be doing every other weekend.

So yeah, while the tour itself was just alright, the people I met along the way were great.

More food? Yes please!

Well, obviously you know what happened after the walking tour.

I headed back to Markthal for some herring.   Since I can’t have it in its’ more popular form of being served in a bun (thanks gluten allergy!), I option to have “loose herring” which is basically cut up herring pieces on a plate served with diced raw onion.

I also grab a small potato/tuna salad as well as a beet salad to finish off my meal.

You know what… not bad… not bad at all.

And that was me crossing herring of my food list…

A quiet evening

By 5pm I was heading back to the hostel and my plan for the rest of the night was nothing.

Literally nothing.

My favorite poker streamer Lex Veldhuis (who I’m meeting for lunch next Wednesday by the way) was streaming again after a few days off and my plan was to literally sit on the patio back at the hostel and watch his stream all night while I typed out this very blog you’re reading.

In fact, I am listening to him in my headphones as I type this very sentence.

Somewhere in between I took a break and popped back to that burger/kebab place I found the other night to grab me an order of Kapsalon (read about it here) and that was it for the night.

Just Lex, Kapsalon and typing up this blog.

Tomorrow is gonna be an epic day.   It’s my last day in the Netherlands and I’m going out with a bang.   On tap tomorrow is a quick day trip to Utrecht followed by my first ever football match watching Ajax play Utrecht.   And I still have the whole night free for who knows what..